Electric arc welding torches normally comprise a central contact tube through which a welding wire is driven by feed rolls toward a workpiece. Electric energy is directed to the moving welding wire by way of the contact tube which is connected in a series circuit with the grounded workpiece. Around the contact tube a passageway is normally provided for directing a shielding gas such as argon, carbon dioxide or combinations of these two shielding gases. During the arc welding process, where an arc is created between the wire and the workpiece, a shielding gas from the torch surrounds the arc and protects the welding process from hydrogen and other contaminants. The welding wire may be a solid metal (GMAW) or a cored wire like those used in flux cored arc welding (FCAW). In TIG welding, the electrode is tungsten and is not consumed by the welding process which employs an arc between the fixed electrode and the workpiece. A filler wire is directed to the arc for the purposes of welding. Again, a shielding gas surrounds the arc for protecting the molten metal as it is deposited onto the workpiece. The quality of the arc is affected by the integrity of surrounding shielding gas. The present invention relates to an improvement in this general welding procedure whereby the welding arc is enhanced beyond that obtained by merely using a standard envelope of shielding gas.